7:39: Strozzapreti? "Priest choker"!
7:55: Are you going to watch on CNN, with the uncommitted viewers' reaction lines undulating at the bottom of the screen? Wow. That's crazy! I can't tolerate that distraction, and the "persuadable" voters they've assembled are... not people I feel like monitoring on a real-time basis.
7:58: What are you looking for, mainly? Honestly, I'm mainly looking to see if Sarah Palin can sound reasonably competent.
8:02: The 2 candidates stride out, both dressed in black. "Hey, can I call you Joe?" we hear Sarah say. Palin looks tiny behind her lectern. She's behind her lectern there, and here's where I am, chez Althouse:
8:06: Palin's flag pin is way bigger than Biden's. Biden has a brown dot on his forehead. Palin refers to "the fundamental" of our economy. She's speaking too quickly, sounding nervous.
8:09: Whose fault is the sub-prime mortgage meltdown? Palin says the moneylenders have taken advantage of people, and she mentions "hockey moms" a second time. Biden blames Republican deregulation. Biden's forehead wrinkles only way over on the side, while the whole center is smooth and flat. What do you think? Botox?
8:13: Palin says she might not answer the questions the way the monitor wants, but she's going to talk straight to the American people. She reveals her overarching strategy. And I note that she's speaking clearly and confidently. There is no stumbling or fear, as far as I can see.
8:19: Joe Biden is going to "eliminate those wasteful spending."
8:27: I'll bet a lot of people are tuning out about now, satisfied that Palin is competent and smart, but pretty bored.
8:29: I'm reading Andrew Sullivan: "Biden is just dreadful. He speaks in Washingtonese. She just issues the soundbites and wrinkles her eyes and tells stories. And that works. The speed and chirpiness she delivers overwhelms one's ability to even quite absorb what she's saying. And it has put Biden off-stride. It's Biden who seems over-crammed." It seems to me that both of them are spewing policy (and it's getting tiresome). "Chirpiness"... I don't know, Andrew... that reads as sexist to me. Why is she overwhelming your ability to absorb what she's saying? Is she working some voodoo on you... and on Biden?
8:34: Palin said "Senator O'Biden."
8:35: Palin razzes Biden on clean coal. Is he for it or not? Biden says he's for it, and his rope-line comment was about his support for exporting clean coal technology to China. That doesn't seem to fit the text of his remark (which he claims was "taken out of context").
8:37: Biden passionately expresses support for equal treatment for same-sex couples, and Palin opposes same-sex marriage, but says that in all other ways she's completely tolerant of adults forming their own relationships. Biden then is given the opportunity to disavow gay marriage, which he eagerly does. Okaaaay.
8:40: Palin is praising the surge and insisting on victory in Iraq. "It would be a travesty if we quit now." Biden complains that she didn't state a plan. On the split screen, when Biden is speaking, Palin looks like she's brimming with ideas she's just waiting to express. When she gets her turn, she says Biden's plan is a "white flag of surrender." She reminds Biden of how much he supported McCain and how he said Obama was not ready to be President.
8:49: Biden is mugging and scratching his neck in an exaggerated way. I think he was trying to signal his objection to the things Palin was saying about Obama's willingness to sit down with Ahmadinejad.
8:51: Biden's heating up! Is he losing his temper?
8:55: At Drudge:
8:57: Well, let me ask:
9:03: Palin enthuses over her Washington outsider status as she claims to hear Biden saying, essentially, I was for it before I was against it.
9:09: "Palin: 'Oh, man, it's so obvious that I'm a Washington outsider and just not used to the way you guys operate!' And then, Biden pats down his brow. On sheer theatrics, Palin definitely won that moment." LOL. That's Jac (my son), who's also live-blogging.
9:11: "There you go again. Say it ain't so, Joe." Palin was waiting to say that. Biden's error? Linking McCain to Bush. Palin seems supercharged. The question is education, and she's praising teachers and winking at her dad in the audience.
9:13: Palin gets a big laugh saying that she and Biden made "lame jokes" back in the beginning of the debate when they avoided answering the question what they wanted to do as VP. Clearly, she's really relaxed. The end is in sight, and she knows she's done well. She's stood her ground next to Biden. She hasn't stumbled, and he's seemed a bit boring.
9:25: Asked what he's changed his opinion about, Biden says he came to realize that judicial ideology matters. (Which is why he opposed Bork.) Palin says she's never had to compromise.
9:29: We've reached the prepared closing statements. So Palin has survived... more than survived. She won, I think most people will say. Now, she's able to say she likes to do these unscripted things. She quotes Ronald Reagan (again) and mentions "freedom" (again and again).
9:31: Biden gives his closing statement. He seems like a nice man. Did he ever attack her?
9:34: Huge crowd of family on the stage.
9:36: The final poll:
POST-DEBATE: Let me highlight some comments. Stupe said...
Althouse can't just eat normal foods, she needs trendy.Is burning the sauce now a trend? Or do I create the trend? If so, I can't help but be trendy. Is there a strozzapreti trend? I just picked the pasta that had a shape that appealed to me. So just be yourself, Stupe, and believe it's all very trendy, and that might make you happy. Don't think about me. Or, hell, think about me until it drives you crazy.
She doesn't go to chain restaurants, and her cuisine needs to reflect her offbeat, edgy, urbane, t[r]endy life.
Ruth Anne Adams said...
The hair in [Sarah Palin's] eye is bothering my husband.Ha ha. That was bugging me too. I was distracted thinking about whether she was distracted thinking about whether it would be more distracting to disentangle her bangs from her (false?) eyelashes than to allow the bangs-eye combo to continue as a single unit.
Lisa said...
So far, she sounds smart, sane and Republican.(Lisa said baby on a night like this...)
The left will hate her. The right will agree with her.
vbspurs said...
Does Palin have ice water in her bloodstream or is it me?LoafingOaf said...
She's almost too un-nervous. It's making me nervous!
What a twitchy, nervous wreck Palin is!Palladian said...
Sarah Palin's pussy is gnawing at LoafingOaf's brain again.vbspurs said...
OOOOOOH. A little lesbian tension between Palin and Ifill just now. HAWT.(It's late-night Althouse.)
Michael_H said...
I don't want to channel surf--anyone know the Brewers/Phillies score?Ruth Anne Adams said...
Gwen's questions SUCK! Too complex. Easily ignored.Trooper York said...
Phillies won 5 to 2.Michael_H said...
Go 2 up on the series.
Ifill keeps cutting Palin off, then letting Joey Plugs run as long as he wants.Really?
vbspurs said...
The 'Mos are getting their questions now. Surprising nod to Palin by Ifill.!!!
I smell a skunk. Or a fish taco.
ex-prosecutor said...
If these were two lawyers, arguing, to a jury, she'd be killing him.palladian said...
God, the only thing more boring than a Vice Presidential debate is baseball. I'd rather listen to Joseph Biden filibuster than listen to people talk about baseball. I'd rather watch "An Inconvenient Truth" 100 times than listen to people talk about baseball. SHUT UP ABOUT BASEBALL.vbspurs said...
Nice! "Not sane or stable" about Dinner Jacket.lem said...
THE CASTRO BROTHERS. She just won Florida, que rico!!!
Gwen went off the script to help Joe!michael_h said...
Love the way Palin smiles as she's making notes while Joey Plugs speaks.chip ahoy said...
No fair! They televise the back of Biden's head to show all the work was done in the front.lawgiver said...
Cuda is landing some major body shots now. Joe's eyes are glazed, he's going downnnnnn!john stodder said...
Palin is just so damn normal.goesh said...
On TV it looks weird to be normal.
500+ comments - holy wowpalladian said...
Palin's faster pace makes her come across as very competent/intelligent, a bit smarter than Biden - she sure the heck exudes confidence - what happened to the dummy from up north???? gone, gone, gone
I love the milling around parts of C-SPAN broadcasts. So much better than listening to talking heads blabber.ricpic said...
Sarah's happy.joan said...
Lefty freaks can't stand happy.
But normal human beings love happy and love Sarah.
Karl Rove just ticked off 10 major gaffes by Joe Biden. It was hysterical.schorsch said...
Regardless of who won, Biden's tactic failed. He was there to debate Bush and McCain, and to ignore Palin as if she wasn't worthy of his attention. She engaged him, specifically, and was therefore the only person in the debate that was actually occurring.
MORE FROM THE COMMENTS: patca said...
I am soooo relieved--and very happy. She was fabulous.
I feel like smoking a cigarette.
:.
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